Jazz at Green Room: Mariana Zwarg & Johannes von Ballestrem

In the organizer's words:

18:00 I Concert I 🌿 GREEN ROOM

Impressive virtuosity and chamber music intensity are the hallmarks of this transatlantic duo. On their debut album "tightrope dancer" (2023), Mariana Zwarg, flutist from Rio de Janeiro, and Berlin pianist Johannes von Ballestrem form a fascinating symbiosis. The rhythmic and harmonic richness of Brazilian music characterizes their sound as well as subtle interplay and intimacy in improvisation.
In years of playing together and numerous international tours with Mariana's "Sexteto Universal", a friendship and familiarity has developed between the two, which is clearly audible in the duo (founded in 2020). Zwarg and von Ballestrem compose together for the project and have developed a unique language by merging the influences of their two worlds. They have already presented their music in numerous European countries and in Brazil.

Mariana Zwarg was born into a family of musicians in Rio de Janeiro in 1980. Her godfather is the legendary Hermeto Pascoal, in whose band her father has played for 45 years. The band's daily rehearsals shaped Mariana's musical development from an early age.
The flautist began her career in the 2000s in her father's band, with which she toured throughout Latin America and Europe. With her "Mariana Zwarg Sexteto Universal", founded in 2016, she made a name for herself internationally as a composer and bandleader and released the highly acclaimed album "Nascentes" in 2019.

Johannes von Ballestrem, born in Bonn in 1990, is a pianist who impresses with his stylistic diversity and wide range of activities. He studied with Michael Wollny, among others, and has performed all over the world as a popular sideman. In New Orleans he studied the early styles of jazz intensively, and through his collaboration with Mariana Zwarg he discovered his love for the music of Brazil. He has played with musicians such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Nils Landgren and Norma Winstone, and his collaboration with violinist Daniel Hope has taken him to concert halls such as the Tonhalle Zurich, the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Elbphilharmonie.

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Mariana Zwarg (flute, alto flute), Johannes von Ballestrem (piano)